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I 




The BATTLES 

of 

DEMOCRACY 

A History of the Struggles 
of the Party in Otter Tail 
County During the First 
and Second Administra¬ 
tions of Grover Cleveland 
and the Reign of 

“Me and Mike ” 


ELMER E. ADAMS 

Former Editor of the Fergus Falls Journal and 
Fellow of the Otter Tail County 
Historical Society 

1913 












. N\ G A % 



3y transfer 
•the White House. 



The Battles of Democracy 


T HE inauguration of a demo¬ 
cratic president and the ad¬ 
vent of a democratic adminis¬ 
tration after an interim of six¬ 
teen years is an important event 
to the members of that party 
and the interest of the faith¬ 
ful is not lessened by the fact, that 
it will be necessary, if the repub¬ 
lican office holders are turned out, 
to put some democrats in. It is 
fifty-two years since the republican 
party was organized and the demo¬ 
crats driven from the breastworks. 
For twenty-eight years they lay out 
side, unable to retake them, and 
when they did succeed they had 
scarcely sacked the city before they 
were again driven out. Four years 
later they retook them but were 
soon driven out and for sixteen 
years the republicans have enjoyed 
the emoluments of office and the 
country has prospered. In the 
meantime practically every demo¬ 
crat has been stricken froih the pay 
roll and some dinner pails have 
been empty. But better times are 
ahead and while it is a stupendous 
task to dislodge the republicans who 
are in, it is even a more stupendous 
task to fill their places with demo¬ 


crats as all will remember, who 
can recall the troubles which fol¬ 
lowed the election of President 
Cleveland in 1884. 

Many of those who took part and 
were prominent at that time have 
passed away and those who have 
survived, are weather beaten like 
the scattered oak which has escaped 
the axeman and the storms. A new 
generation has grown up since that 
time and it may be worth while 
to recount some of the incidents 
which occurred, that they may bet¬ 
ter appreciate and understand the 
things they will see and read about 
during the administration which has 
just begun. And those who were 
living during the first Cleveland 
administration will perhaps enjoy 
having their memories refreshed as 
to events with which they were 
once familiar. 

In order that this reminiscence 
may not be too long, I shall confine 
it to the struggles of the democrats 
of Otter Tail county, introducing 
state matters only to give them the 
proper back ground and touching 
national affairs on,ly where they 
had a direct bearing upon the local 
situation. 


TOO FEW IRISH 


The democratic party always weak 
in Minnesota, was particularly weak 
in Otter Tail county. This was 
due to the fact that few Irishmen 
located here. The Scandiavian has 
never made a good democrat. He 


arrived in this country at the 
wrong time. He began to come 
during the war of fhe rebellion and 
settling in the north he allied him¬ 
self with the republicans, got into 
their way of thinking and all ef- 


4 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


forts to convert him to democracy 
have signally failed. It is true 
that at certain times he has voted 
for his countrymen, when they have 
been labelled democratic, but it 
has been impossible to make him 
a consistent, working, believing 
democrat. 

We refer to this matter at this 
time and in this manner because it 
was the efforts of the democrats in 


authority, to strengthen the party 
by converting Scandianvians that 
caused so many heart burnings 
among the old line democrats, who 
had voted the ticket, fought the 
battles and endured the privations. 
It is no wonder they were beside 
themselves with rage and disap¬ 
pointment when they found their 
hopes blasted and saw the fruits of 
victory go to the undeserving. 


PIONEER DEMOCRATS 


From the establishment of the 
county down to 1884 there was 
practically no Democratic organiz¬ 
ation. It is true that there were 


not active. The situation prior to 
1884 was accurately fittingly and 
tersely described by Mil Lowry in 
one of his famous interviews re- 



M. R LOWRY 


democrats and they, were democrats 
too. There was Bob Miller, M. R. 
Lowry and Edwin M. Wright here 
in the city. At Pelican Rapids 
there was R. L. Frazee, w"ho was at 
one time a candidate for Lieutenant 
Governor and there was quite a 
number at Perham but they were 


ported in the Journal when trouble 
broke out later, when he referred to 
“The old bakery days when I ran 
Bob and Bob ran the party.” Not¬ 
withstanding there was no organiz¬ 
ation, Mr. Lowry always had his 
eyes firmly and lastly fixed upon 
the Postoffice and as soon as Cleve- 


















THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


5 


land was elected he said that the 
Republicans had begun to ask him 
for II 1 Air mail. 

In 1884 there was a little more 
activity. J. P. Kennedy, who had 
made himself wealthy at that time 
in the real estate business, George 
C. Waters, W. D. Lowry, C. O. D. 
Schmitz, j. K O’Brien and others 
showed some activity during the 
campaign of 1884. Back bone was 
put into the situation by the ar¬ 
rival of Colonel L. L. Baxter of 
Carver county who has been a life 
long Democrat and always a parti¬ 
san. He had a state wide acquaint¬ 
ance and when they looked about 
for a Democratic candidate for 
Congress to run against Nelson in 
1884, he was selected when the 
Kindred crowd could not make a 
second stand. This was not done 

CAPT. HAY 

Captain John Hay also arrived 
in 1884 from Indiana where he had 
been the treasurer of Marion coun¬ 
ty and enjoyed the personal ac¬ 
quaintance of Thomas A. Hendricks, 
the democratic nominee for vice 
president, and Senator Daniel W. 
Voorhees, and other democrats of 
national reputation. His frequent 
advices from Indiana were such that 
it put courage into the democrats 
and they bet their money freely on 
the election of Cleveland. Ole P. 

B. Jacobson then an active democrat 
got frequent wireless communica¬ 
tion from Brooklyn telling how New 
York would go. J. K. O’Brien bet 
all the cash he had, $2,900 and then 
ran an advertisement in the Jour¬ 
nal that he would bet $5,000 worth 
of personal property against any 
property of equal value. 

As all know Cleveland was elect¬ 
ed. Then Fergus Falls had a jolli- 


until it was ascertained that there 
was not enough left of the Kindred 
faction to make any showing 
against Nelson who had won in the 
famous KindTed-Nelson fight two 
years previous. Colonel Baxter se¬ 
lected George C. Waters for the 
the Chairman of his committee and 
in those days it gave almost state 
wide prominence to a man to be 
selected to lead a Congressional 
fight. Waters went down to St. 
Paul, it is claimed with a view to 
raising some campaign funds but 
before he had an opportunity to see 
the powers that contributed he was 
interviewed by a reporter of a Re¬ 
publican paper and admitted that 
there was no chance of electing 
Baxter over Nelson and therefore 
came back empty handed much to 
the disgust of the local Democrats. 

ARRIVES 

fication such as it has never seen 
before nor since, neither has any 
other town in the state of the size 
of Fergus put on such a demonstra¬ 
tion. Jim O’Brien came nearer be¬ 
ing a spender than any other man 
who ever struck Fergus Falls. He 
was always ready to bet on a foot 
race or a horse race or an election 
and he bet them strong when he 
bet. He was also a liberal giver 
whether it was for a church fair or 
for any public doings and it can 
almost be said that public spirit¬ 
edness died when Jim O’Brien left 
town. That fall he became propri¬ 
etor of the Grand Hotel. Just as 
in these later days we call George 
Bonney “Colonel” Bonney so Jim 
O’Brien was breveted“Colonel James 
K. O’Brien” when he took control 
of the Grand. He took charge of 
the jollification aided by all the 
democrats who hoped to get an of- 








6 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


fice and where there was a scarcity 
before there seemed to be myriads 
now. True to Mr. O’Brien’s in¬ 
stincts he made the Grand Hotel 
the center of the jollification and 
demonstration, which was to con¬ 
sist of a grand parade, speeches by 
.eminent democrats, followed by a 
banquet with toasts. The difference 
in spirit of the Fergus Falls of 


those days and that of the present 
time can be imagined when you read 
of the demonstration in honor of 
Cleveland’s election and recall what 
you saw when Woodrow Wilson won 
twenty-eight years later. The dif¬ 
ference between then and now is 
just as great in business, religion 
and society as it is in politics. 


A GREAT JOLLIFICATION 


The streets and windows all over 
town were illuminated with candles 
and Chinese lanterns^nd filled with 
the shouts of the people who turned 
out to witness the demonstration. 
The Daily Telegram of November 
13, 1884 gave a bit of description 
which we think will be read with 
interest even now: 

“Precisely at eight o’clock Col¬ 
onel James K. O’Brien, mounted on 
one of his handsome grays and 
wearing a sombrero and plume, ap¬ 
peared on the scene in front of the 
Grand Hotel with his six marshals, 
^Gilman, Duncan, Cowie, Fish, 
Clary and Harris and proceeded to 
muster the parade. At this time 
the bonfire in the open space south 
of the hotel blazed away furiousuly 
and at intervals the cannonade of 
the artillery reverberated through¬ 
out the city and over the surround¬ 
ing country. The procession was 
headed by a real live crowing 
rooster carried on a platform from 
which there were suspended num¬ 
erous lanterns; then came the Park 
Region band followed by prominent 
democrats in carriages. The proces¬ 
sion of democrats came next with 
about a dozen transparencies bear¬ 
ing mottoes like these: “Office hold¬ 
ers are our servants not our mas¬ 
ters,” which sounded differently 
when within a year Tom Cowing 


who was appointed from Alexandria 
to run the land office was denounced 
as our imported boss; “76 is aveng¬ 
ed;” “Government for the people 
and by the people”; “Halpin and 
Blaine are out of politics now.” 

The parade passed through the 
main streets of ‘the city and upon 
its return to the front of the Grand 
Hotel there was a liberal display 
of fireworks. Then there were ad¬ 
dresses by H. E. Rawson, Col. H. R. 
Day of Pelican Rapids and Hon. 
John B. Brisbin of St. Paul, all of 
whom were introduced by Edwin M. 
Wright the chairman of the eve¬ 
ning. After the speaking was 
over the banquet was served in the 
dining room of the hotel and some 
idea of the spreads which they had 
in those days and on this special 
occasion can be gained from the 
following section of the menu: 

Young Pig in Form 
Chicken Ham Turkey 

Mallard Duck with Wild Goose with 

Green Olives Apple Jelly 

Canvas Back Duck and Currant Jelly 
Venison with Cranberry Jelly 
Young Bear, Orange Jelly 

There would undoubtedly have 
been more kinds of game and meat 
but the kinds of jelly ran out. Fol¬ 
lowing the banquet there were 
toasts, both democrats and republi¬ 
cans spoke, as republicans had 
been pressed into the service in or¬ 
der that the demonstration might 
be complete. 




THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


7 


GET DOWN 

No sooner was the demonstra¬ 
tion and jollification over than 
trouble began, for the faithful be¬ 
gan at once to file on the offices. 
J. P. Kennedy selected. Register of 
the Land Office, Edwin M . Wright 
Receiver of the Land Office and 
George C. Waters the Postoffice 
which had already been pre-empted 
for several years by Milnor Lowry 
and which caused one of his famous 
interviews, which the Journal was 
always ready to publish, in which 
he exclaimed: “George Waters! He 
is a fine specimen of Democracy 
isn’t he; why a few years ago he 
and Eb Corliss used to walk up to 
the polls and deposit the very same 
ballot. He is the fellow who 
scratched English, the vice presi¬ 
dential candidate, off the ticket in 


TO BUSINESS 

1880, voting for Hancock and the 
electors. Real bright, intelligent 
thing to do, wasn’t it. You see 
George and Joe Kennedy and Ed 
Wright have got up a kind of mutu¬ 
al admiration society among them¬ 
selves on the foundation ‘you sign 
my petition and I’ll sign yours, 
but it ain’t going to work. The 
men who organized the Democratic 
party fourteen years ago are none 
of these; there was Bob Miller and 
Mill Lowry; Jim Gray was out of 
town and we got our third man, 
Niggler, from Elizabeth and Bob 
and I have worked and fought and 
kept ourselves poor for the party 
ever since. We’ll see whether Joe 
and George carry these offices in 
their vest pockets or not in a very 
few weeks.’’ 


PARTY METHODS 


It has been the practice since 
there have been party organizations 
for the Congressmen, if in harmony 
politically with the president, to 
recommend the men for appoint¬ 
ment within their districts. The 
offices which extended over more 
than one Congressional District 
have been the perquisites of the 
United States Senators from the 
state. Ambassadorships, Judgeships, 
Heads of Departments at Washing¬ 
ton and in fact all the office holders 

PAT KELLY 

When Cleveland was elected in 
1884 both of the United States 
senators and the five congressmen 
from Minnesota were republicans 
and therefore could not be consulted 
in regard to the appointments to 
be made within the state. When 
the campaign for the presidential 
nomination started in 1884 which 


in the departments have been re¬ 
garded “open territory’’ and these 
have been apportioned among the 
senators and leaders from the vari¬ 
ous states, Ohio and New York get¬ 
ting most of them. In states where 
there have been no senators or con¬ 
gressmen of the same party as the 
president, it has been the custom 
to recognize the recommendations of 
the National and State committee¬ 
men of the party to which the 
president belonged. 

ON DECK 

resulted in Cleveland’s nomination, 
P. H. Kelley, the wholesale grocer 
in St. Paul, is alleged to have writ¬ 
ten out to his customers all over 
the state to come to the state Demo¬ 
cratic convention which was going 
to elect delegates to the National 
Democratic convention. They evi¬ 
dently came for Mr. Kelly control- 






8 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


led the convention, was elected dele¬ 
gate at large and selected as Na¬ 
tional Committeeman for the state 
of Minnesota. Michael Doran was 
chairman of the State Central Com¬ 
mittee and this resulted in forming 
that famous partnership which last¬ 
ed for nearly fifteen years and caus¬ 
ed more excitement than any politi¬ 
cal partnership which has ever ex¬ 
isted in the state. 

As soon as Cleveland was inaug- 
uarted in 1885 the faithful decided 
to march on the offices and in or¬ 
der that an organization might be 
perfected a meeting was held 
about April 20th, 1885 in St. Paul 
to which Kelly and Doran invited 
all of the delegates from the state 
to the last national convention, 
members of the state central com¬ 
mittee, the defeated Democratic 
candidates for congressman and the 
chairman of the Democratic con¬ 
gressional committees. Kelly and 
Doran did enough business and 
evidently made enough promises of 
patronage to secure the passage of 


a resolution declaring that no ap¬ 
pointment should be made in Minne¬ 
sota unless endorsed by P. H. Kelly 
as National Committeeman and 
Michael Doran as chairman of the 
State Central committee. Every 
man present who voted for that 
thought he had his job cinched. 
That conference took one other step 
which caused no little trouble for 
it passed a resolution declaring 
that it was the sense of the Demo¬ 
crats of Minnesota that Ignatius 
Donnelly should not be appointed to 
any office within the state. That 
resolution put the yeast into the 
situation. Donnelly had run for 
Congress against the Republican 
candidate several times and was one 
cf the best known men in the state, 
and to think that the author of At¬ 
lantis, Ragnarok, The Baconian 
Cypher and Caesar’s Column should 
be thus spat upon by a gathering of 
Irishmen put ginger into every¬ 
thing that the Sage of Nininger 
said from that time on. 


“ME AND MIKE” 


The Republican papers at once 
set up the claim that the Democrats 
had chosen two Irish bosses and 
when J. P. Kennedy returned from 
St. Paul he at once souglit an in¬ 
terview with the Journal in which 
he said “They are not bosses. They 
are Irishmen and gentlemen” but 
Joe probably thought differently be¬ 
fore another year rolled around. 
When George Waters returned from 
the St. Paul conference the Journal 
of that date says he wore an oleag¬ 
inous smile. “We have got things 
fixed all satisfactory now; boys 
bring on your petitions; all we have 
got to do is to agree among our¬ 
selves and if we cannot agree 
among ourselves, the present incum¬ 


bents will be retained until we can.” 
All of which talk furnished more or 
less amusement for the republicans 
all over the state who were anxious 
to hold onto their jobs. 

Kelly and Doran or “Me and 
Mike” as Kelly referred to the firm 
at once got busy and issued the fol¬ 
lowing announcement advertising 
their office brokerage business and 
it was made the text for a good 
many hot speeches and controver¬ 
sies: 

To whom it May Concern: 

“In order to expedite applications 
for the federal offices certain form¬ 
alities should be observed and ap¬ 
plicants will aid their cases by ob¬ 
serving the following: The chief 



THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


9 


point to be considered must be that 
the candidate is well endorsed by- 
leading democrats of the locality 
and the candidate must be of char¬ 
acter satisfactory to the people 
with whom they will be brought in 
contact. A candidate’s papers 
should be formally drawn and en¬ 
dorsed by the members of the state 
central committee in his judicial 
district as well as by the democratic 

CAPT. HAY 

Captain John Hay selected the 
position of Collector of Customs as 
the office which he wanted but as 
he was a rather new arrival from 
Indiana and had some cards of na¬ 
tional character, he did not propose 
to get the office by the Kelly-Doran 
route. He went to Washington 
where he got a letter from Vice 
President Thomas A. Hendricks to 
President Cleveland recommending 
him for the office of Collector of 
Customs and in company with 
United States Senator Daniel W. 
Voorhees of Indiana he called at 
the White House to see President 
Cleveland. 

He showed the president his 
papers and reported that Cleveland 
said to him that all you need to do 
is to find some reason why the pres¬ 
ent incumbent should be removed 
and I will appoint you to the office. 
He had in his endorsements the 
name of practically every Democrat 
from Minnesota of prominence ex- 

GUERNON 

In spite of the showing made by 
Captain Hay, Dr. A. Guernon of 
Little Palls, who had been a dele¬ 
gate to the National Convention, 
was nominated by Cleveland for 
the position of collector of customs, 
a vacancy having been caused by 


members of Congress from his dis¬ 
trict. Papers thus endorsed should 
be forwarded to either Hon. M. Dor¬ 
an, chairman of the state central 
committee in his judicial district, 
or Hon. P. H. Kelly member of the 
National committee at St. Paul. 

M. Doran, Chairman, Dem. State 
Central Com. 

P. H. Kelly, member of National 
Com. 

GETS BUSY 

cept Kelly and Doran so he called 
upon the National Committeeman 
in St. Paul, showed him his papers, 
spoke of his service to his country to 
which he had given a part of his 
body and the best years of his life 
and remarked that he expected Mr. 
Kelly to endorse him. 

Kelly hesitated, remarking that 
“If ‘sarvice’ counted, you might be 
entitled to the office but ‘sarvice’ 
does not count here. How long 
have you been in Minnesota?” 

“Only about three years” replied 
Hay “but I was a Democrat, By God 
sir, before you left Ireland” and 
gathering up his papers he walked 
out of the office with a display of 
self respect which fairly stunned 
the office broker from Erin. 

This interview gained great pub¬ 
licity and helped to increase the 
opposition which began to grow 
against Kelly and Doran as the as¬ 
pirants for office met their disap¬ 
pointments. 

APPOINTED 

the charges which Captain Hay 
had been able to make against J. 
Bookwalter, the Republican Collect¬ 
or then in office. When the Presi¬ 
dent sent Guernon’s appointment to 
the Senate, Captain Hay started for 
Washington. He had an interview 





10 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


with Cleveland and the Secretary 
of the Treasury, Daniel Manning, 
(who told him they regretted the ac¬ 
tion taken and the only thing to do 
was to have the appointment 
defeated in the Senate. Captain 
Hay visited Benjamin Harrison, 
who was the Republican Senator 
from Indnana, and General John A. 
Logan who was then a senator from 
Illinois, and told them his story. 
On the last day when the senate 
was in session and the motion was 


made to confirm Guernon, General 
Logan made a protest and succeed¬ 
ed in having his appointment re¬ 
jected. Before the Senate convened 
again General Logan, Vice Presi¬ 
dent Hendricks and Secretary Dan¬ 
iel Manning had passed away and 
the main props in Captain Hay’s 
campaign were lost and made it 
useless for him to continue the 
struggle longer and at the demand 
of Kelly and Doran, Guernon was 
renominated and confirmed. 


AUNE APPOINTED 


Nothing was done about any of 
the offices in Fergus Falls until 
November 1885, when L. L. Aune, 
a Norwegian in the grocery busi¬ 
ness, and Thomas Cowing of Alex¬ 
andria were nominated for Re¬ 
ceiver and Register of the Land 
Office in the place of Jacob Austin 
and B. N. Johnson removed. The 
throwing down of Joe Kennedy 
and Edwin M. Wright came like a 
clap of thunder out of a clear sky 
but as Mr. Kennedy had already 
pronounced Kelly and Doran as 
“not only Irishmen but gentlemen” 
there was nothing left for him to 
do but to accept the results. Kelly 


and Doran announced that they had 
nominated Aune because he was a 
representative Norwegian but their 
enemies claimed that he was nomi¬ 
nated not simply because he was a 
Norwegian but because he was in 
the grocery business and owed 
Kelly a good sized bill, which may 
or may not be a libel. Traveling 
salesmen who were on the road 
during that era reported that they 
had awfully hard times in selling 
groceries to anyone who had po¬ 
litical aspirations while the repre¬ 
sentatives of P. H. Kelly & Com¬ 
pany had a veritable snap. 


NORWEGIANS PROTEST 


Mr. Aune had never taken an 
active part in the Democratic or¬ 
ganization but at the time it was 
hoped to strengthen the party by 
recruiting from the Norwegians 
and Kelly justified his selection to 
the President by claiming that his 
appointment was a recognition of 
a leading Norwegian Democrat. 
This assertion on the part of Kelly 
at once caused trouble. The Nor¬ 
wegians around Fergus Falls did 
not object to Aune having the office 
but they did object to having him 


designated as a representative 
Norwegian and under the leader¬ 
ship of Dr. William Eisen, a for¬ 
midable protest was prepared 
against the designation of Mr. Aune 
as a leading Norwegian. That pro¬ 
test among other things said “As 
his countrymen we desire to express 
our appreciation of the kindly in¬ 
tentions of the administration to¬ 
ward the Scandinavian element, 
maifested by this appointment, but 
we also desire to enter our protest 
against the impression dissenji- 










THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


11 


nated that Mr. Aune is in any sense 
whatever a leader among the Scan¬ 
dinavians. If he has any following 
at all, it is so diminutive as to be 
imperceptible to the naked eye.” 

Among the names appended to 
that protest are those of Dr. Wil¬ 
liam Eisen, Judge Eric Frankberg, 
Dr. Tord Nielson, C. F. Hanson, P. 
0. Noben, Haldor E. Boen, Hon. J. 
T. Johnson, Herman Shol, A. So- 
lem, T .J. Quamme, Martin Rathe, 
K. F. Resenberg, R. Jochman and 
many others. The protest had no 
particular effect except that it re¬ 
lieved the feelings of the Protes¬ 
tants and served to indicate the 
tumultous times which the Demo¬ 
crats of those days had in filling 
their offices. It was not difficult at 
all to get a Republican out but it 
was a laborious task to get a Demo¬ 
crat in. 

Aune’s appointment increased 
instead of ending the troubles 


for the Democrats as will be 
seen later. Fomenting against Me 
and Mike started early in 1886 and 
a conference of anti Kelly and Dor 
an Democrats was called at St. Paul 
on July 1st at which Dr. Ames and 
a large number of unrewarded 
democrats attended. Captain Hay 
was present. After passing resolu¬ 
tions denouncing boss rule they 
went home determined to capture 
the Democratic State convention. 
When that convention assembled 
Kelly and Doran, who had unlimited 
'free transportation, swamped the 
convention with grocers. Their 
work as dispensers of patronage was 
commended, Cleveland was endors¬ 
ed and Doc Ames was nominated for 
Governor. The nomination of Ames 
for governor brought about the 
greatest and only real democratic 
activity ever seen in Otter Tail 
county in the way of campaign 
work. 


SCHMITZ ASCENDANT 


J. P. Schmitz, commonly known 
as C. O. D. Schmitz, assumed control 
and came rapidly forward. He put 
more ginger into that Ames cam¬ 
paign than has ever been seen in 
any campaign in Otter Tail county, 
Republican, Democratic or Populist. 
He was a fine type of the ward poli¬ 
tician and would do credit to New 
York, Chicago or Kansas City. He 
possessed gall, courage, energy, re¬ 
sourcefulness and fide’ity. In spite 
of his reputation he was not one of 
the kind who came around to get 
money for a box of cigars and a 
keg of beer for the boys and then 
keep the cash himself. He liked 
to win and to clean out the opposing 
gang. One of the funniest scenes 
ever witnessed in an Otter Tail 
county convention was when he 


chided Col. Davidson of Perham, 
who had recently come from Dako¬ 
ta, for being a new recruit to Demo¬ 
cracy yet trying to run it. In that 
Ames’ campaign he didn’t miss any 
opening v/hich was offered to put 
the Republicans in a hole. He was 
ably assisted by M .J. Glennon, the 
author of “Boomville,’ a novel 
about Fergus Falls who was said to 
have been educated for the priest¬ 
hood but when he landed in Fergus 
Falls took charge of the pop works. 
The Daly boys, “D. D. and Mike” 
were then on earth and W. D. Low¬ 
ry, J. F. Cowie, James K .O’Brien 
and a lot of lesser lights, who ably 
backed them up. That was the 
campaign w r hen Schmitz and Glen¬ 
non in order to have a bigger flag 
than the republicans floated to the 



12 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


breeze made one with nineteen 
stripes and fifty-seven stars before 
they realized that it was not accord¬ 
ing to government regulations. The 


price of wheat was very low that 
year and all over the county were 
placards “Fifty cent wheat the re¬ 
sult of Republican Rule.” 


MARDEN ANSWERS AMES 


In that campaign the republicans 
were relying greatly upon the aid 
of Archbishop Ireland to ho’d the 
Irish and Catholics in line for Gov. 
McGill on account of Ames’ wide 
open policy on the liquor question 
and the incidents which happened 
in Fergus Falls that year had a big 
influence throughout the state. 

Col. Marden, who had then been 
here about three years fresh from 


ing the campaign. They had a 
parade and a torch light proces¬ 
sion with an enthusiasm which sur¬ 
passed the one in honor of Cleve 
land’s election. Ames addressed a 
great audience which was full of 
enthusiasm for he was in the very 
height of his popularity. Col. Mar¬ 
den begged for an opportunity to 
answer Ames and as the situation 
appeared to be so bad here that it 



COL. RILEY H. MARDEN 


Vermont, was used as a curtain 
raiser at Republican rallies or rati¬ 
fication meetings and he had always 
complained that he had never had 
an opportunity to deliver his fuU 
speech. Ames visited the city dur- 


could not be damaged, it was de¬ 
cided to give him the opportunity. 
Little did they reckon on the 
trouble which the Colonel was go¬ 
ing to make for the Republicans by 
that speech. C. D. Wright and C. 


























THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


13 


H. Goodsell were the committee 
which escorted the Colonel to the 
Court House in one of the elegant 
hacks of that day preceded by the 
Cornet Band. 

Hon. J. W. Mason presided at the 
meeting and introduced Col. Marden 
and those who have heard him so 
many times during the last forty 
years say that for lofty eloquence 
and superlative thought, his effort 
in introducing Col. Marden was 
never surpassed, save when in the 
same Hall of Justice, he nominated 
James A. Brown for county attor¬ 
ney against M. J. Daly. Rising 


higher and higher, piling his words, 
Ossa upon Pelion, in his effort to 
proper’y characterize the forensic 
champion, he closed in a veritable 
sunburst of eloquence: 

“Caesar had his Brutus; Charles, 
-The First, his Cromwell; Napoleon 
his Wellington; Sullivan his Cor¬ 
bett; Ames now finds his Marden.” 

The Colonel was satisfied. He 
was more than satisfied; he was 
pleased. He showed it. Working 
his dense eyebrows up and down he 
advanced to the front of the plat¬ 
form amidst thundering applause. 


TROUBLE WITH THE IRISH 


Col. Marden had hardly got under 
way before he gave utterance to 
this sentence “Doc Ames says he is 
called by the universal voice of the 
people but I’d like to know what 
that universal voice was if it wasn’t 
the voice of two bog trotters from 
Ireland (Applause) and two of the 
most supreme bosses who ever con¬ 
trolled politics on this continent, 
Me and Mike, wh j hold the Demo¬ 
cratic party in an iron grasp. Why, 
there were a few kickers including 
Doc Ames in that party and they 
had a meeting and were going to 
oppose these two men, Kelly and 
Doran, but Doc Ames was the most 
supremely squelched man in the 
state after he had been closeted in 
a room with the two bosses and in¬ 
formed that he could have the Dem¬ 
ocratic nomination for Governor if 
he would not oppose them and that 
was his ‘universal call from the 
people.’ ” (Applause) 

The applause which followed the 
Colonel’s words had not died away 
before some of the Schmitz gang had 


started for the telegraph office and 
wired the St. Paul Globe that the 
Republicans had insulted the Irish 
of Minnesota by calling them “bog 
trotters.” The first intimation that 
the Republicans had of what had 
happened was the next day when 
telegrams came from the Republi¬ 
can State Central Committeee to 
get a denial from the Irishmen of 
Fergus Falls that they had been in¬ 
sulted by Col. Marden. The town 
was searched for men suspected of 
being Irish and a telegram was at 
once forwarded to the State Cen¬ 
tral Committee saying that Capt. 
John Hay, Chief of Police Dan Sul¬ 
livan and H. W. Childs, who were 
undoubtedly representative Irish¬ 
men, felt that there had been no in¬ 
sult. It was no sooner published 
than it was found out that Capt. 
Hay was a Pennsylvania Dutchman. 
The Democrats throughout the state 
made a great handle of Col. Mar- 
den’s remarks among the Irish and 
it took a lot of work to smooth 
them out. 




14 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


THE NORWEGIANS INSULTED 


But as the Colonel proceeded in 
that speech he made more trouble. 
It seems that before going to the 
Court House, Reciever Laurence 
Aune told the Colonel that he had 
better not be too hard on the Demo¬ 
crats and here is what the Colonel 
handed Aune for that jocular 
warning: “I want to say some¬ 

thing right here about this brain¬ 
less dude of a Receiver of the Land 
Office that Cleveland has appointed 
in Fergus Falls, and I say it with 
the consciousness of the full import 
of my words, measuring what I say, 
calculating the full force of the re¬ 
mark and assuming the entire re¬ 
sponsibility to myself. I say with¬ 


out hesitation and without fear of 
contradiction that for a stupendous 
jackass, he beats anything I ever 
saw. (Tremendous uproar, cheer¬ 
ing and laughter) He came to me 
yesterday and warned me against 
being too radical against Ames but 
I wouldn’t be bulldozed by any man 
who is lead around with a bull ring 
in his nose by Pat Kelly.” 

In that paragraph Col. Marden 
massed all his best phrases, the 
phrases he always used in address¬ 
ing an Otter Tail county jury and 
this made more trouble for the next 
day when the St. Paul Globe came 
there appeared more work of the 
Schmitz gang. 


“BRAINLESS ASSETS” 


Fergus Falls. Minn., Oct. 16—‘ Never in the 
history of their loyalty to the Republican par¬ 
ty have the Scandinavians been insulted as 
they have been here tonight.. The Republican 
managers declare us to be brainless assets. 

—Herman Shol.” 

The framing of this last insult 
was undoubtedly the work of rhe 
Irish and probably of the Daly boys 
for Mr. Shol but the year before 
had been one of those who signed 
the protest against having “Me and 
Mike” designate Laurence Aune as 
one of the leading Scandinavians. 

Ames was beaten but it was the 
closest result in the history of Min¬ 
nesota. The Republican majority 
was cut all to pieces in Otter Tail 
county. When it was over C. O. D. 
Schmitz had made such a showing 
that Kelly and Doran endorsed him 
for the postoffice of Fergus Falls. 
Then there was a wailing and 
gnashing of teeth. Postmaster 
Nichols’ term was not out for more 
than a year and a half so the 
trouble kept brewing without really 
coming to a head. The way to get 
a political appointment in those 


days was to go to a Democratic 
state convention which Kelly and 
Doran wanted to control. Schmitz 
had to maintain his lead during the 
wait for Nichol’s term to expire and 
at one of the Democratic County 
Conventions here an effort was 
made to keep him off the delegation 
to the State Convention. He could 
carry the convention as a whole 
but the Fergus Falls democrats 
claimed the right to name the dele¬ 
gates from the city. It was on this 
occasion that Schmitz made one of 
the briefest yet one of the most 
effective speeches ever made in a 
court house convention. His oppo¬ 
nents seemed to have him going, 
but getting on his feet he said: 
“Mr. Chairman, The town is agin 
me; the duffers are trying to do 
me” and sat down amidst a thunder¬ 
ing uproar. A vote was taken, the 
speech had done its work and he 
was sent to St. Paul by a vote of 
more than two to one over his op¬ 
ponent. 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


15 


TROUBLE 

In the meantime trouble occurred 
in the land office. Receiver Aune 
who thought more of attending to 
democracy and having a good time 
than he did of attending to busi¬ 
ness soon had the accounts invol¬ 
ved. When the fight was made 
against Me and Mike he is said to 
have spent $700 to get the delega¬ 
tion to the State Convention. On 
June 23rd, 1887 Aune was removed 
as Receiver and John G. Nelson, of 
Parkers Prairie who had always 
been one of the most conspicuous 
and agressive Republicans but who 
was thought to have had Ames 
tendencies in 1886, was nominated 
to succeed him. This action on the 
part of the Democratic bosses came 
like a clap of thunder out of a 
clear sky; even Aune himself was 
dumbfounded. Matters were still 
more complicated by the announce- 

MR. LOWRY 

It was on the receipt of the news 
of Harris’ nomination that Milnor 
Lowry gave utterance to another of 
his famous interviews. The Journal 
had an active interviewer in those 
days and so while Mr. Lowry was 
still filled with the warmth which 
the news of Harris’ appointment 
had infused into him, he put this 
question: 

“What claim should you imagine 
Harris had on the administration?’’ 

“Not one single dam claim. In 
those old days when I ran Bob and 
Bob ran what Democracy we had 
here; when I did the putting up and 
Bob did the spending, the burden 
got rather heavy some times, when 
the times at the bakery were not 
lively, and I called on Harris once or 
twice for a little financial help 
knowing he called himself a Demo- 


FOR AUNE 

ment of Mr. Nelson a month later 
that he did not want the office. 
In the meantime Aune had secured 
an appointment elsewhere and was 
anxious to be relieved but there 
was nothing doing. There were 
plenty of candidates but no one was 
appointed. On November 24th, 
1887 C. D. Wright, J. H. Allen and 
other bondsmen telegraphed Wash¬ 
ington that he was neglecting the 
business, using up the money and 
had been discharged for drunken¬ 
ness by the firm which had employ¬ 
ed him. It was not until February 
2nd, 1888 that an appointment 
was made, when K. O. Harris was 
selected over a field of applicants 
in which were Capt. John Hay, J. 
P. Kennedy, H. S. Cole, George 
Waters, M. R. Lowry and some 
others. 

INTERVIEWED 

crat. Do you suppose he helped 
any? Not he—He just laughed at 
me and said ‘what the h’ll I sup¬ 
posed he cared about Democracy.’ 
I tell you, the fellows who have 
stood by the old party in such times 
are the ones that the party ought 
to stand by now.” 

“I don’t suppose you got much 
help from Schmitz either, did you?” 

“Schmitz! Do you rememeber a 
few months ago what an uproar 
there was when it was reported that 
he was to have the postoffice, and 
how Jake Austin and those fellows 
began to arrange to have their mail 
come to Ashby or Elizabeth in case 
he got it? Schmitz talks about 
the duffers there are in the party 
but the most gigantic duffer I know 
of is the man who thinks the rest of 
us are duffers.” 









16 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


BATTLES FOR 

With the land office filled atten¬ 
tion was then turned toward the 
filling of the postoffice. Schmitz 
still had the advantage in the shape 
of Kelly and Doran’s endorsement 
but the opposition under Edwin M. 
Wright and others, proceeded to get 
busy early in the spring of 1888. 
Postmaster Nichols’ time expired in 
April but although he had held the 
office for seventeen years, the Dem¬ 
ocrats were not able to get a suc¬ 
cessor until several months after 
his term had expired. The fight 
was opened up on Schmitz by the 
announcement that the Otter Tail 
County Democratic Club would be 
formed. Its chief purpose was to 
back the candidacy of M. T. McMa¬ 
hon for Postmaster. Evidently some 
of the local leaders thought that 
by bringing out a man who at 
least had an Irish name, Schmitz 
could be headed off. In order to 
give the backing of McMahon 
something of a semi-public char¬ 
acter, after organizing the Otter 
Tail County Democratic Club and 
getting it well under control, they 
called a meeting of the club at the 
city hal 1 . Even in the Hoot Lake 
days, that scene of so many meet¬ 
ings and disorders, never saw such 
a crowd as that assembled when the 
Otter Tail County Democratic Club 
held its meeting for the purpose of 
discussing the postoffice. 

Schmitz and Glennon aided by 


LOST OFFICE 

T. P. Cowing, whom the local 
Pemocrats called “the imported boss 
from Alexandria,’’ stormed the hall 
with their followers. When they 
attempted to participate in the 
meeting, Edwin M. Wright, in that 
same cool and quiet manner in 
which he impaled the Indian with 
his pitchfork at Fort Abercrombie, 
said “Not just yet gentlemen, you 
have not been voted into the Club.” 

Then there was an uproar but Mr. 
Wright never got excited at all and 
kept them all at bay. Schmitz, 
Glennon and some of the leaders 
were allowed to join, other appli¬ 
cations were referred to the mem¬ 
bership committee so that Mr. 
Wright never lost control of his 
meeting. When in the early stages 
of the meeting some of the Schmitz 
crowd attempted to talk about the 
postoffice, Mr. Wright said: “Not 
just yet gentlemen, we have not yet 
produced the apple.” When Schmitz 
and Glennon found that they could 
not get possession of the meeting, 
they branded the club as silk stock¬ 
ing and announced that two days 
later the Fergus Falls Democracy 
would be organized and called on 
all who believed in free speech and 
wanted a voice in the postoffice to 
attend at the same place. “Come 
with us all you dirty fellows,” ex¬ 
claimed Schmitz as he stood on top 
of a desk. 


THE FERGUS FALLS DEMOCRACY 


It was hardly necessary to get 
out the band when the Fergus Falls 
Democracy was born on March 15, 
1888 but it was done and the city 
hall was again filled. 

Matt litis, who at that time 
owned the J. K. O’Brien saloon and 


had been a Democratic politician in 
Carver County, was elected Chair¬ 
man of the meeting. On assuming 
the cnair be announced that they 
were going to organize a Demo¬ 
cratic Club where it would be un¬ 
necessary to have a post mortem 



THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


17 


held upon each prospective member 
before admitting him. Of course 
Schmitz was endorsed by this meet¬ 
ing. The vote stood 99 for Schmitz 
and one for McMahon. Notwith¬ 
standing the fact that Kelly and 
Doran had notified the Otter Tail 
County Democratic Club that there 
was no use of meeting and endors¬ 
ing McMahon, they not only did so 
but they went ahead with their 
fight for McMahon and particularly 
against Schmitz. It is understood 
that they preferred charges of all 
kinds against Schmitz, even inti¬ 


mating arson. The battle went on 
all the spring until after the Demo¬ 
cratic State Convention was held 
and it was not until July 9th that a 
telegram was received that Horace 
Pickit had been selected for Post¬ 
master. Then there were more 
interviews, more expressions from 
the leaders and from the laymen. 
The Republican papers were full of 
comfort at this time and we quote 
from an editorial which appeared 
in the Journal immediately after 
Pickit’s nomination showing the 
despair of the democracy. 


“THE WORKING DEMOCRACY AGAIN IGNORED” 


“The last Federal office in the 
county has been filled and the last 
hope of the local Democracy has van¬ 
ished. Four rich plums in the way 
of fat offices have fallen from this 
administration but no working 
Democrat was beneath them when 
they dropped. A dozen years of 
active service, four years more of 
patient waiting and deferred hope 
have been rewarded by a kick from 
the foot that they so fondly car¬ 
essed. The first office went to Mr. 
Aune, a recent convert, for what 
he would do; the second one to 
Mr. Cowing for what he had done 
in some other county; the third to 
Mr. Harris for what he has not and 
will not do;and the fourth to Mr. 
Pickit for what he could not and 
cannot do. Thus the last chance to 
receive an office from the Cleveland 
administration has gone and no 
Democrat of Otter Tail County 
who has ever done anything for the 
party has received an office and on 
the other hand the claims and de¬ 
sires of all the workers have been 
completely ignored while those who 
have been conspicuous for their in¬ 
activity and indifference have reap¬ 


ed all the benefits. 

Outsiders unacquainted with the 
situation here can hardly realize 
the unjust and shabby treatment 
which our leading Democrats have 
received at the hands of Cleveland, 
Kelly and Doran. A more loyal, 
devoted and patriotic set of men 
than the working Democrats of 
Fergus Falls cannot be found. For 
the last four years they have devot¬ 
ed themselves entirely to the inter¬ 
est of their party and its welfare, 
giving their worldly and family 
concerns no care or thought. While 
others have been engaged in the 
more sordid occupation of amassing 
wealth or laying up stores for the 
moths to destroy or the tramps to 
steal, their only solicitude has been 
the welfare of the party and that 
the offices might be fairly and justly 
distributed to those who had just 
claims upon them. From early 
morn until dewy eve, in fact until 
the police in former administrations 
have called out eleven o’clock, with 
unflagging zeal and undimmed hope 
they have assembled daily,discussing 
the situation, planning for the par¬ 
ty’s welfare, contemplating and pro- 





18 


THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


phesying the effect and influence of 
every act of the administration up¬ 
on the success of the party, only 
to be ruthlessly pushed aside when 
the last favor was to be bestowed. 

Socrates, barefooted, teaching 
without pay in the streets of Ath¬ 
ens, giving his personal welfare no 
concern, unmindfud of Xantippe’s 
scoldings, expounding his ideas to 
all who would listen, did not ex¬ 
hibit a greater unselfishness or a 
higher devotion than has been 
shown by the working Democrats 
of Fergus Falls. And what has 
been their reward? Everything 
that they have wanted done has not 
been done and when anything has 
been done, the powers have been 
very careful not to let the Demo¬ 
crats here know anything about 
it. What hope and what induce- 

SPIRIT 

The spirit of Democracy was 
broken. The workers no longer 
had heart. Five nominations had 
been made and not one of them 
from out their ranks. They went 
ahead as best they could and nom¬ 
inated a full Democratic Legislative 
and County ticket, the last one 
nominated in Otter Tail county, but 
they all went down to defeat. The 
Republican majority of but 500 of 
the last campaign was increased to 
^,000 in November. Cleveland as 
all know was defeated. Four years 
then elapsed and Cleveland was re¬ 
elected but as the term of the Re¬ 
publican Postmaster did not expire 
until the close of the administra¬ 
tion, no attempt was made immedi¬ 
ately to select his successor. 

In the next presidential campaign 
the Democrats were hopelessly split. 


ment does Mr. Cleveland hold out 
TARIFF REFORM 
to the working Democrat now? Tar¬ 
iff reform; there is enough of this 
to go around and the working Demo¬ 
crats who conceived and fostered 
the party in the days of its infancy 
and trials; who for years have 
stood the taunts and derisions of the 
dominant party; who have organiz¬ 
ed and battled for its success; who 
have devoted their time and spent 
their money until it finally tri¬ 
umphed; you who are not good 
enough to have the offices, can get 
your fill in tariff reform. Let the 
working Democracy unite, the 
washed and the unwashed, the 
manicured and the unmanicured, 
the pop factory and the distillery, 
and satisfy yourselves with the 
husks and whey while those who 
have done nothing are filling their 
pockets with corn and cheese.” 

BROKEN 

Bryan was supported by the Silver 
Democrats and Palmer and Buck¬ 
ner by the Gold Democrats. The 
aspirants for the postoflice were J. 
O. Billings, who supported Palmer 
and Buckner, and M. R. Lowry who 
supported Bryan. Kelly and Doran 
of course supported the gold stand¬ 
ard and in January, 1901, J. O. Bil¬ 
lings was nominated for Postmaster. 
The friends of Mr. Lowry and the 
Silver Democrats at once got busy 
and through National Committee¬ 
man, Senator J. K. Joneg, they suc¬ 
ceeded in holding up Mr. Billing’s 
nomination and it was not until 
the 2nd of March, within forty- 
eight hours before Cleveland was to 
go out of office, that Mr. Billings 
was finally confirmed and served un¬ 
til he resigned a few months before 
the close of his term. 




THE BATTLES OF DEMOCRACY 


19 


AGAIN TRIUMPHANT 


After a hiatus of sixteen years 
since Cleveland’s last administra¬ 
tion and a lapse of twenty-eight 
years since his first election and the 
ascendency of Me and Mike, Democ¬ 
racy is once more triumphant. 
Once again the stupendous task of 
filling the offices rests upon that 
party. Already the hostile camps 
are being pitched. Fortunately the 
Jand offices in Fergus Falls have 
been abolished and Civil Service re¬ 
form and rural delivery have thin¬ 
ned the ranks of postmasters, thus 
lightening the work. A humane 
though Democratic Senate has les¬ 
sened the horrors of Republican re¬ 
movals by chloroforming 3,000 of 
Taft’s nominees nevertheless a great 
labor awaits the party. But how the 
ranks of the participants of those 
other days have bce i decima’.eu by 
the lapse of time. Cleveland is 
vdead, Donnelly is dead, Kelly is 
dead and Doran is the President 
Emeritus of the Ramsey County 
Work House Board, a position 
created by a grateful people. 

Locally Edwin M. Wright, Mil- 
nor Lowry, K. O. Harris, Thomas 
Cowing have been summonel to 
their reward; Bob Miller, Joe Ken¬ 
nedy, Laurence Aune have moved 
away; C. O. D. Schmitz, M. J .Glen- 
non and J. F. Cowie have gone 'the 
world knows not where. George C. 
Waters has transmigrated from the 
field of politics to the pleasanter 
fields of Theosophy and Buddhism; 


Col. Davidson and Ole P .B. Jacob¬ 
son, are now temporary camp fol¬ 
lowers in the wake of Republican¬ 
ism. Out of all the participants of 
those early battles, one remains, like 
an isolated oak, which has with¬ 
stood the storms of years and when 
Captain Hay lays before’ the powers 
who have been invested with the 
hereditary rights of “Me and Mike’’ 
a petition signed by a thousand pat¬ 
rons asking that he be appointed 
postmaster at Fergus Falls, and gets 
the inevitable answer, well may he 
exclaim: 

Where was Wheelock? Where 
was Westberg? Where was Hannah 
when we were fighting the battles 
of Democracy! Wheelock was lam¬ 
pooning Democrats in a Republican 
paper. Westberg was in Sweden. 
Hannah was eating oatmeal and 
wearing kilts in the fastnesses of 
Scotland, “By God Sir!” 

But it has been ever thus. We 
who have fought the battles, fed 
the grasshoppers, faced the 
blizzards and had our characters, if 
not our bodies, shot to pieces, that 
the party might live, have gone un¬ 
rewarded because our friends as well 
as our enemies could agree on some 
non-combatant with greater ease, 
but there is a satisfaction in know¬ 
ing, even though you go empty 
handed, that your enemies as well 
as your friends knew that you 
participated in the engagement. 









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